THE Archbishop of Canterbury warned yesterday of a "huge crisis looming" for the Anglican Church over the appointment of an openly gay bishop.

Dr Rowan Williams said he was personally opposed to the consecration in the US of Canon Gene Robinson as the next Bishop of New Hampshire.

He was speaking the day after a special Anglican summit had warned of a split in the Church.

He said Canon Robinson, who lives with his male partner, could not have been a candidate in the Church of England as it currently stands.

And the wider Anglican Communion faces major difficulties if he is ordained as a bishop, Dr Williams said.

"Undoubtedly, there is a huge crisis looming," he said.

"I think what we have achieved this week, though, is at least to find some way of talking through the crisis without instantly jumping into what appear to be quick solutions.

"When and if the ordination of Canon Robinson goes ahead in the US, we shall immediately have some responses from around the world, I am sure," he said.

Dr Williams was asked whether he believed that Canon Robinson should become a bishop.

He replied, "No I don't, because I believe that on a major issue of this kind the Church has to make a decision together."

Dr Williams said the issue posed unprecedented challenges for the Church.

"It leaves the Church with a huge challenge about co-ordinating its discipline, and its legal systems across the world, which we have never had to do before," he said.

"It leaves the Church with a number of very untidy relationships, where there may be a number of provinces that declare outright that they are not in communion in the long run, we would hope to find ways of living with that, others which would want to continue in an impaired state of relation."

On the principle of whether practising homosexuals should be welcome in the priesthood, Dr Williams said, "As in any other matter, if the Church were ever to change its view, it would have to be because the Church as a whole owned it, not because any one person's conviction prevailed."

He added, "In the Church of England as it currently is, Canon Robinson couldn't have been a candidate for the bishopric."

The Archbishop of Canterbury's comments came after religious leaders in the US promised to press ahead with appointing Canon Robinson.

A statement by senior Anglican bishops, or primates, warned on Thursday night that his consecration would jeopardise the unity of the church. But the New Hampshire Diocese said it looked forward to Canon Robinson's consecration on November 2.